3 Chicago Firms Selected for Obama Library Project Management Team

The Obama Foundation announced Tuesday three Chicago-based firms will lead the project management team for the Obama Presidential Center.

The team will be responsible for establishing and directing the necessary processes to ensure the center is designed and constructed in accordance with budget, schedule and technical requirements of the foundation, according to the press release.

Dubbed the “center consortium,” the project management team will be composed of employees from Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), McKissack & McKissack and Ardmore Associates.

“We are excited to bring together the combined abilities of JLL, McKissack & McKissack, and Ardmore Associates, who are each first-class project management firms in their own right,” Obama Foundation CEO David Simas said in the press release.

Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate services firm, will bring “industry-leading practices” to oversight of the design and construction of the library, according the release.

Both McKissack & McKissack and Ardmore Associates are African-American owned firms, with the former being an outgrowth of the oldest design and construction firm owned by African-Americans in the United States. McKissack & McKissack served as project manager for the recently completed and award-winning National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C.

Ardmore Associates is also a women-owned professional services firm, with experience working on challenging public and institutional projects across Chicago, according to the press release.

“We believe that a diversity of experiences and opinions will best help us achieve our objectives for the project," Simas said. "This is a team that will bring best-in-class skills and accountability to all of the processes involved in managing the design and construction of the OPC.”